The Man I Was

During high school, band geek Dave Tripiciano had few girlfriends, and was teased and bullied by his classmates and even his gym teacher. In an effort to prove himself, and win the respect of others, he practiced three hours a day to become an accomplished musician, and then went on to study music in college. When the coeds began to notice him, he discovered another way to impress the girls, and became quite the ladies man. Married while still in college, he played in a band for extra money, but that made it easy to flirt with and meet attractive women.

As he matured and settled down, he became a faithful husband, the father of three and a school band director. But the need to "prove himself" and impress people still drove him. Becoming a self-centered workaholic, he focused mainly on his career and his hobbies, until the tragic morning that he and his children found his wife dying in a wrecked car on their way to school. Soon after her death, he also learned that due to his selfishness, she had turned elsewhere for attention and had been having an affair with another man for several years.

Devastated and realizing how badly he had failed as both a husband and a father, he gave up his career as a high school band director and began to devote his life and his gifts to serving God and others. He met and married a young widow with two small children who lost her husband in a plane crash. Since then he has started an outreach ministry for men and several Christian school band programs that include home schoolers. He has also authored two books and produces Christian videos.